Boat construction



July 28, 1959 c. SAUNDERS 2,896,228

BOAT CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 20, 1956 INVEN TOR CHARLES SA u/vqERs W ATTORNEY United States Patent BOAT CONSTRUCTION Charles Saunders, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Application November 20, 1956, Serial No. 623,372

3 Claims. (Cl. 9--6) My invention relates to improvements in boat construction.

The improvement to be hereinafter described is particularly adapted for use in small craft such as rowboats, sailing or motor driven boats having a plastic outer coating, though the coating of the hull is not essential to the invention.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a boat hull in which the floor section or a substantial part thereof is a wide longitudinal member preferably made of a single sheet of plywood, which extends on both sides of the keel and to which the edge of the vertical planking are secured. The provision of a unitary floor member of substantial width simplifies the shaping of side planking, affords greater strength and prevents splitting of the hull adjacent to and substantially lengthwise of the keel and provides a boat where the member forming the bottom of the hull may also serve as the floor.

The preferred construction of the invention will be shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the bottom of the boat hull.

Figure 2 is a fractionated perspective view of the forward end of the hull.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the front portion of the bottom panel of the hull before bending into shape.

Figure 4 is a portion of the bottom panel of Figure 3 bent to conform to the forefoot of the hull.

Figure 5 is an enlarged section taken on the line 55 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of a forward portion of hull having a bottom panel terminating short of the stem post.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

The numeral 1 indicates the hull of a rowboat as seen from beneath and in which the bottom or floor panel indicated by the numeral 2 is a single sheet of material preferably plywood of appropriate thickness. The bottom or floor panel 2 will preferably extend from the stern or transom 5 of the boat to a point reasonably close to the stem post 6, as shown in Figure 6, or to the stern post as shown in Figures 2 and 4. The panel 2 of Figures 2, 3 and 4 is substantially the length of the boat and is formed by sawing the forward end of said panel longitudinally as shown in Figure 3 and providing a V-shaped notch 7 in the outer end of the panel, the sides of the V being convexly curved so that when the side portions of the board are brought upwardly and drawn together they will form a prow shaped portion 9, see Figure 4. The rear portion of the floor panel 2 will be curved transversely as at 10 of Figure 4 to conform to the desired section of the boat. A keelson 12 is laid along the centre line of the floor panel, which keelson extends forwardly to join with the stem post 6 in the usual manner.

When the floor panel 2, the transom 5 and the stem post 6 are secured in place, side planking consisting of relatively narrow strips or strakes 15 are applied and are preferably arranged to stand vertically as shown in Figure 4. The strips 15 shown in Figures 2 and 5 are lapped below the side edges 17 of the floor panel 2 and are nailed thereto. In the modification shown in Figure 6, where the floor panel used terminates short of the stern post, the strips 15 which reach between the forward part of the said stem post and the rearward extremity thereof are nailed to the stem post. The strips disposed between the stem post and the floor panel are secured to the keelson while the remainder of the strips are nailed to the floor panel in the usual manner. The upper ends of the strips are nailed to an inner gunwale 18 and when all of them are in place an outer gunwale 19 is secured to the inner one and the top edge of the strips 15 in the customary manner, as shown in Figures 2 and S, to form a laminated gunwale 20. A conventional keel 22 is applied lengthwise of the boat to the floor panel 2 which obviously is flared into the heel of the stem post 6. Where the forward end of the floor panel 2 is folded at its forward end the strips 15 will be nailed at their lower ends to the prow shaped portion 9.

When the hull has been fully formed as above described it is covered with a fibre glass fabric or other suitable coating 24 which is bonded thereto with a suitable synthetic resin, the resin being worked into the fibre glass fabric. The fabric 24 preferably extends from the gunwale 20 to the lower end of the strips 15 as shown in Figure 5 and is carried across the end edges of the strips and onto the underside of the floor panel. The floor panel may also be covered by fibre glass and synthetic bonding solution and a narrow fillet 25 is secured to the floor panel and abuts the ends of the strips as shown in Figures 1 and 2. This fillet serves to cover the edge of the fibre glass where it overlaps the panel and forms a member to protect the hull from abrasion. Twin'keels 27 of substantial depth are applied to the underside of the hull which are buttressed along one edge of the adjacent fillet 25.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A boat hull comprising a bottom panel, side walls, a stem post and a gunwale, said bottom panel being a wide unit extending the major portion of the length of the hull and having a forward portion, said forward portion having upwardly curved side edges, said stem post being disposed between said upwardly curved side edges, the side walls being formed of narrow strips in side by side relation and secured at their lower extremities to the marginal edges of the bottom panel, keel members extending lengthwise of the lower extremities of the narrow side wall strips, the upper ends of the side wall strips being united to each other by the gunwale.

2. A boat hull as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom panel has parallel side edges towards its rear end and the keel members extend along said parallel side edges.

3. A boat hull as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom panel has parallel side edges towards its rear end and the keel members extend along said parallel side edges, the hull being covered with a fabric from the gunwale to the lower extremities of the narrow side strips and the keel members being used to cover some of the marginal edges of the fabric.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,298,042 Haskell Mar. 25, 1919 FOREIGN PATENTS 100,213 Sweden Nov. 5, 1940 

